I was in business only 2 months, when I found my store being burglarized repeatedly by an inter-state Bill Stringing ring.  This is the story of how I discovered the burglaries, how I protected my business, how I planned to capture the criminals, the actual events that lead to the capture, and an amazing update one year later.

Preface:

For those of you that don't know what a Bill Stringer is, imagine a $10 bill with a string tied to it (hence the name), that someone can put the bill into a Bill Changer (the ones you see at laundromats, arcades, etc.), get the change from the bill, and pull out the bill back out of the Bill Changer, keeping the $10 bill.  Tape is used instead of string.  Bill Stringing first started when Bill Changers were first developed.  Soon Bill Changers became very sophisticated to stop Bill Stringing, which has not occurred in decades, until now.

How I discovered the burglaries:

Since buying the laundromat, I had enough quarters in the Bill Changer to last an entire week.  During the mid-July to mid-August time frame, I started noticing the quantity of quarters in my coin hoppers slowly going down and down, until I just barely had enough quarters to last the weekend.  Since I was new to this business, I didn't know what to expect.  I compared the amount of money received from the machines against the amount of currency received from the Bill Changer.  During the weekends there was always more currency than coins, but during the week, there was always less currency than coins.  I didn't know if someone had a key to the machines or if a Bill Stringer was stealing money out of the Bill Changer.  The Bill Changer never showed any tampering or security gate alert.

The washers have an internal auditing capability.  I had keep track of the auditing system.  I compared the amount of quarters in the washer auditing system, against the amount of quarters collected. There was only a 2 % difference.  This was not the problem area.

I focused my attention on the Bill Changer in case there was a Bill Stringer in the area.  I talked to PWS.  They talk to a lot of laundromat owners.  They had not heard of a Bill Stringer in the area.

Just in case there was a Bill Stringer, I took several steps to protect the business.  First, I loaded only 1000 quarters nightly to minimize my loss.  Secondly, I connected up a video recorder to the surveillance cameras.  By the next Monday, the store was ready.

On Wednesday, August 12, 1992, my attendant called me when he came on shift at 2:00 PM, that the Bill Changer had the Service light on.  I was hoping that it was a good day at the store, unfortunately the Bill Stringer had stolen $210 in quarters!

Upon opening the Bill Changer, the audit system said that there should be 21 ten dollar bills; there were none.  The auditor also showed what we saw - the quarter hoppers had been drained empty.

We immediately viewed the videotape.  There he was.  He waited until there were no customers in the store.  Less than two minutes after the customer left, about 7:30 AM, he walked up to the Bill Changer and stole $60 in quarters.  You can hear the Bill Changer paying off at a rate of $10 in quarters every 3 seconds; it sounded just like Las Vegas.  It was fast.  He walks out of the field of view of the camera, presumably to give these 240 quarters to an accomplice since 240 quarters are heavy.  He walks back to the Bill Changer for a second pass.  This time he steals only $30, and walks back out of view.  Again, about 1 minute later, he walks back to steal the final $120 worth of quarters - the quarter hoppers had been drained empty!  $210 in less than 5 minutes.

Unfortunately the video was from 60 feet away and did not come out clear enough to get a positive identification.  He kept his back to the camera except for one point when he when out back to check the rear entrance to the store.  This wasn't good enough evidence to find him, let alone convict him.

There were three items that bothered me in the video.  While the Bill Stringer is stealing, he constantly looks over his left shoulder, possibly to hide his face from the camera.  During this 5 minutes, you hear one of the dryer’s beep at the end of its cycle.  I thought this guy had guts to be stealing when someone could walk back in for their clothes.  And finally, every time he approached the Bill Changer, he walked down the aisle where the dryers are located.  This store has three aisles.  As you walk into the store, the center aisle is the fastest way to the Bill Changer in the back of the store.  The right aisle is to the washers, and the left aisle is to the dryers. Why did he use the dryer aisle?

I made a police report, but no one was going to be assigned to it for at least one week.  I couldn’t wait for anyone else to help me.  I started planning how to protect my business.  My secondary goal was to capture the criminal and put a stop to his Bill Stringing.

How I protected my business:

I wanted to protect my business. I moved the surveillance camera up closer, within 20 feet, to get a good positive identification of the criminal.  I also positioned the camera on a side angle to the Bill Changer for a better face shot.  I mounted a small plant next to the camera to try to conceal it.  Third, I mounted a second camera above the Bill Changer inside the ceiling, within 5 feet, to get a good picture of how he was Bill Stringing the Bill Changer.  A motion detector protected this second concealed camera in case this camera was detected and disturbed.  This surveillance system would automatically shift from one camera to the other so I wouldn't have to be there.  Finally, I brought in my home movie camera to use as a long-range camera so I could see out into the parking lot.  This camera was also concealed, protected by a motion detector.  This camera would give me time to react to the situation.

 How I planned to capture the criminal:

I had a funny feeling he would come back.  My records indicated he had been stealing for at least one month, if not longer.  He was only stealing during the mid-week, not on weekends.  I termed his initial stealing as "milking", instead of draining the machine empty.

In today’s criminal system, the evidence has to be overwhelming to get a conviction.  I wanted a rock solid case.  The videos would be great, but only if they automatically switched at the right moments.   Also, considering the $210 burglary required only 5 minutes, I knew the police would not make it there in time.  I planned to stake out my store from the back room, manually switch the cameras for the best photos, and capture the criminal if the police didn't arrive in time.

There were three goals I wanted to accomplish.  First, I wanted to retrieve whatever device he was using to deceive the Bill Changer.  I did not know if he was using a mechanical device (a bill on a string) or an electronic device, since the first video was not clear enough.  Secondly, I wanted to get him.  If he escapes capture during the crime, I felt he would never be caught.  Thirdly, I wanted to get his partners.

For the first goal, I removed the rear panel on the Bill Changer, so I could see what was going on.  I had screwdrivers and pliers to grab whatever device he was using to Bill String.  I rigged up a method to have the rear door open while it was paying off, and still pay off - in normal mode, the coins would just fall onto the floor into a box that was lined with cloth so the coins wouldn't make any noises or get in my way.  With this set up, I could open the machine, see what was going on, and grab the device.

For the second and third goal, I consulted a Los Angeles Police Officer on what a citizen can do and what a citizen should not do.  I decided not to keep a gun, but I did position various protection devices inside and outside the store in case of physical violence.  My intentions were to meet force with same force.  I call this "Non violent, assertive intervention".  From the first video, I felt confident that I could overpower him, especially with the element of surprise on my side.  I used the officer’s suggestion that a broken tail light lens is the best way for the police to find or follow a suspect’s car.  I had pipes and sticks hidden outside the store to break the tail light lens of his car.

I wanted a rock solid case incase he did get away from me.  I took a hand full of quarters, marked them, and loaded them into the hopper.  I put a green magic marker dot on the Eagles head on the back of the quarters.  You would not normally notice the mark, but you can see it if you know where to look.  This method was selected, so the police would find these specially marked quarters in his possession after he burglarized the store.

I wanted to slow down his Bill Stringing while in progress so the police could apprehend him in the store.  For liability reasons, I wanted the police to physically grab him.  I adjusted the Bill Changer to pay out from only one hopper, instead of normally two hoppers - about half the pay out speed, 6 seconds for $10 instead of 3 seconds.  I also prepared a pile of quarters inside the machine, that I would hand feed down the quarter funnel to slow down the rate of pay off. 

Based on the fact that this would happen in less than 5 minutes, I planned contingencies for every scenario possible.  This included turning on the automatic door locks to lock the criminal in if the police did not arrive in time (with the risk of him breaking window glass to get out).  I moved wash carts around to make it harder for him to run out of the store. 

I notified the Donut shop owner (2 shops over, the only other store open in the morning) what I was doing and a plan of action if he saw me running out of the store chasing someone.  I had a pocket audio recorder in case I went into a chase on foot, as a diary of what would happen.  I had a Polaroid for still shots if necessary.  I also drilled a secret viewing hole in the wall in case anything happened to the cameras.  I had a can of WD-40 spray inside the Bill Changer in case he tried to look inside when I would try to grab the device.  A good shot of WD-40 in his eyes would also slow him down enough for me to come out of the back room and give him a good body slam into the wall.  I had a roll of 3-inch duct tape to use as hand and feet cuffs, so I can tie him up and go after his partners.

The Last Burglary:

I was only going to stake the store out the next day (Thursday) and Tuesday through Thursday of the following week.  I planned the stake out from 6:00 AM to 8:00 AM - to follow his MO (Motus Operandi).

At 6:00 AM, all cameras were checked for operation.  The pipes and sticks were strategically positioned.  I loaded the marked quarters.  I called 911 to tell them I am in surveillance mode.  This was the set up procedure for the next few days. 

Thursday was uneventful.  The next Tuesday, there was no one in the store the entire morning - the perfect day for the Bill Stringer.  On Wednesday, everyone was washing clothes; the store was never empty.  By 8:30 AM on that Wednesday, I was just about to give up.  Maybe they drained my machine the week before because they were leaving town.  I was discouraged, but decided to try just one more day.

Thursday, August 20, 1992 - I did everything as in the previous few days, except I did not call 911 since I really didn't think it would happen again today.  During the morning, one earlier customer leaves the back door open, and one of the two front doors open.  At 7:00, one customer gets change with a $10 bill, taking the marked up quarters.  I quickly re-load the quarter hopper with 6 marked quarters without trying to be suspicious (it makes a lot of noise to dump the quarter hopper and reload it).

At approximately 7:30 a brown van or truck parks in front of the store.  He is alone and fits the general description.  He has a blue rectangular clothesbasket and walks in to the left side of the store, down the dryer aisle.  I hear a dryer getting turned on.  I get a little suspicious.  There are customers that dry only, but he fits the description.  He did not have a lot of clothes in the basket.  There is only one other customer in the store, who is within minutes of finishing his clothes and leaving.  During this time, he is reading a paper and goes to get a cup of coffee from the Donut shop.  I start to ponder two things that bothered me from the first video: the Bill Stringer came down the dryer aisle, and the dryer beeping off.

Before the customer leaves, I came up with a possible scenario: What if the Bill Stringer has a bucket in the clothesbasket surrounded by clothes?  That would explain why he is in the dryer section and would walk down the dryer aisle.  If he had two hand fulls of quarters, without a partner, he would need to dump them into a bucket.  This would also explain why he walks off camera and spends a little time before he comes back on camera.  The dryer is his dryer so he looks like any other customer!  I turn on the pocket cassette recorder just in case.

The customer is within two minutes of leaving.  I call the Donut shop owner and tell him this is just practice, and to get the make, model and license plate of the truck or van in front of his shop.  He tells me it is a brown Chevy Van.  I tell the Donut shop owner to wait; I'm not sure yet if this is the burglar. At this point, my adrenaline level is rising.  I'm just waiting for the customer to leave to see what his next move will be.

Two minutes pass and the customer leaves.  The store is empty except for this guy.  The Donut shop owner comes into the store for change (his normal routine).  I am anxiously waiting for him to leave to see what this guy’s next move will be.

Less than 1 minute after the Donut shop owner leaves, he walks across the store to the right washer aisle and bends over by some plastic patio chairs that are bolted to the wall.  I hear the sound of the bolts being unscrewed.  I think to myself " he's going to steal my chairs - what an idiot!”  He starts to walk towards the surveillance camera.  My adrenaline level just went through the roof!  I call 911 and tell them a robbery is in progress but not to come into the store until I tell them to.  I want the Bill Stringer to have the marked up quarters in his possession.

The Bill Stringer puts the chair under the surveillance camera.  I watch from this camera as he tries to move the plant in front of the camera - unsuccessfully.  He then grabs the camera and moves it, changing the field of view from the changer to about six feet back (this actually helps me).  He puts the chair back.  He then walks back under the surveillance camera where you get a glimpse of his head.

During this time, I activate the door locks (two doors are open, one locks), check the video machine, and giving a complete description of the Bill Stringer to the 911 dispatcher.  Before I know it, I hear him in front of the Bill Changer.  I switch the camera to the overhead view and get a perfect video of him bill stringing for the second $10 of quarters.  He would string with the $10 bill in his right hand, and in his left had is a bunch of $1 bills he uses to conceal the Bill Stringing operation.  With the group of $1 bills, you could be standing right behind him and never see it happen.  He is fast and smooth.  In less than 15 seconds, he scoops up the $20 of quarters and goes back to drop them off in his clothes basket.

Since the bill is mechanical (tape on it), I drop the first goal and concentrate on the second goal - I believe he is acting alone, so I don't have to worry about any partners.  I tell the dispatcher to send a car fast; he will be leaving within minutes.  I keep the dispatcher advised as to where he is in the store and what he is doing.  I call off the time on the video recorder into the audio recorder.  I would prefer the police to grab the guy for liability reasons - I'm pumped up with adrenaline - I'm about ready to jump out of my skin, but I have to keep to my game plan.  I decide to wait and let the Bill Stringer steal as much as he wants, to keep him in the store longer, until the police arrive.  I concentrate on all possibilities to slow him down for the police.

The Bill Stringer comes back to the Bill Changer.  I had already switched to the side angle camera to cover the rear entrance.  When he walks back to steal again, I see him in the side view which gives the extra 2 - 4 seconds for the cameras to switch over when I switch to the overhead camera.  This worked perfectly as I get another great overhead video of him stringing the machine for a third time.  Again, he uses his right hand to do the bill stringing, and his left hand has a bunch of $1 bills for concealment.  This time, while the machine is paying off, he goes out to the back door to look around.  As usual, he scoops up the $10, and walks back to dump them in the clothesbasket. 

I start to yell at the 911 dispatcher to "hurry up, where's that car? He’s going to leave at any second!"

About 30 seconds later, probably as he is dumping quarters into his bucket, a new customer walks into the store.  This new customer walks to the right aisle for the washers.  He sits down and at this position he cannot see the Bill Changer, but is directly across the store (about 20 feet) from the Bill Stringer. 

I tell the 911 dispatcher about the new customer and I'm positive the Bill Stringer is going to leave because of him.  I describe my car color, make, model and license plate, along with what I am wearing so the police don't stop the wrong guy.  The 911 dispatcher starts telling me not to go into pursuit.  We argue for about 30 seconds and then it hits me, the Bill Stringer has not left!  He is going to steal with a customer in the store!  With the bunch of $1 bills to conceal the burglary, it would be simple.

Another minute goes by, and the Bill Stringer starts walking towards the Bill Changer to steal again.  At this moment the police pull up.   Two officers approach the store very casually, almost too casually.

The police did not know the robbery was in progress.  They start talking to this guy based on the description I gave the dispatcher.  The 911 dispatcher tells me not to go out until the officers have him in handcuffs.  About 30 seconds go by and no handcuffs.  Just as one of the two officers starts to walk back to my door, I come out and yell "Cuff that guy, he just ripped me off!” 

I tell the officers about the marked up quarters and the $10 bill with tape.  This is also an important point.  You must tell the police before they search the criminal, not afterwards.  It also gives the police justification to search the criminal.  After they search the criminal, they find all the evidence.  The taped $10 bill was folded inside the bunch of $1 bills.  He did not have enough time to destroy it or conceal it elsewhere.

Lady Luck was on my side that morning.  The police officers were half way to my location to visit the theater a couple of stores down the road.  Normally it could have been 10 to 15 minutes before any police would have arrived.  It took them less than 5 minutes to arrive.

 He carried both a California and Illinois Drivers License, along with what looked like a police badge.  There was a sticker on his Van from the Chicago area; Morton Grove.  His name is Dimiter Manolov Dimitrov, age 50, 5' 7", 135 lbs., black hair and eyes, light brown toned skin color.

He was putting the quarters into a TIDE box in the clothesbasket. After they impounded the Van, they found another $200 in quarters in a Tide box.  He had a prior arrest in Laguna Beach (California) in 1982 and Glendale (California) in 1984 for Bill Stringing, but was not convicted due to lack of evidence.

Subsequent investigations revealed he has two partners: Slautcho Slavo (age 45, 5' 8", 150 lbs., gray hair, light skin color) and Dimitar Youev (age mid 30's, 5' 10", 180 lbs., dark hair, toned skin color).  Both have outstanding arrest warrants in Wisconsin (for Bill Stringing).  Slavo also has an outstanding arrest warrant in New Jersey.

It is speculated that each member of this ring takes turns burglarizing the same store, so that the three different descriptions will be a hindrance to owners and police. 

A suspect fitting Slavo's description was seen at another store one mile south of my store.  That person burglarized the store for $1000 during March to June of this year, milking the store.  Another store one mile north of my store was burglarized for $3000 in one morning, just one month ago.  I was told that one night alone in Las Vegas, they got $7,000.

This trio has been burglarizing the entire nation for millions of dollars for years.  I estimated that if they stole $200 from one store in 5 minutes, and hit 5 stores per day, or $1000 per day, and if they worked 5 days a week ($5000 per week), 50 weeks per year, they would have $250,000 a year. 

Remember their motto: "Got change for a $10?"
 
 

 UPDATE: September 10, 1992

Dimiter was booked the following day.  Unfortunately, the wheels of justice were not turning that day.

When the police arrived to arrest Dimiter, he only had $30 worth of quarters.  The amount has to be over $200 to be booked as a felony.  Therefore, he was only booked as a misdemeanor.

I was unaware that he was brought before a Judge for his plea to be heard the next day.  There was no one to inform the Judge of his prior crimes.  The Judge did tell him that he was video taped, and since it was only a misdemeanor charge, Dimiter plead guilty.

The Judge only gave him 30 days in jail.

By the time I found this out the next week, it was too late, the sentence was final.  But this was not the last day that Dimiter would be summoned to court.

When they took Dimiter away on the day of his arrest, they confiscated his van.  Inside the van was another Tide box with about $300 of quarters.  Dimiter was making his rounds that day; this money was probably from some other store, or even my store from the week prior.  No other robberies were reported that day.  The van was worth some money, so I decided to file a Small Claims lawsuit against Dimiter in the hopes of seizing the impounded van before he got out of jail.

As a twist of fate, a friend at work was also a part time Police Officer at the same jail where Dimiter was serving his time.  I quickly got a Small Claims summons and had Dimiter served in jail.

As fate would have it, the jail filled up, and they started releasing inmates sooner than their sentence dates, based on the sentence.  Dimiter walked out in 8 days.  He got his van out of the Impound Yard before he was due back in court for the Small Claims action.  He did not pick up his $300 in quarters.  That money was considered his personal property since I couldn’t prove they were my quarters.  I don’t know why he didn’t get them, just another quark of fate I guess.

Dimiter did not show up for the Small Claims case of course, and he never went back for the $300 in quarters.  I was ready to show the videotape, but the Judge didn’t need to see it with Dimiter not present, and awarded me everything I was asking for.  The Judge also awarded heavy damages since there was a crime involved.  I was awarded over $4300.  Now, how to collect this is another issue.

I served the Orange County Sheriffs with a subpoena to hand over Dimiters personal property of $300 worth of quarters they were holding.  Imagine having the Marshals serving a subpoena on the Sheriffs!  I doubt if this had ever been done before.  It took a lot of explaining and supervisors signatures for the Sheriffs to release his personal property ($300) to me, but in a few months, I got the money.

 UPDATE: September 10, 1993
After Dimiter's arrest, I took several photos of him (front and side), made 8 x 10 inch color copies, and passed them out to various locations where other laundry owners do business.  One of these locations was Sudsy in Westminster, California.  They displayed his photo for everyone to see.

On September 10, 1993 (my 40th birthday), Dimiter came back to a store only 3 miles south of my store, in the city of Westminster, California. 

The owner (Kevin) was going in the rear entrance to his store.  His Bill Changer was near the front entrance.  Kevin recognized Dimiter from the photo at Sudsy.  He ran up and started to make a citizens arrest.  During the confrontation, Kevin punched Dimiter as hard as he could in the face.  Dimiter fell back to the ground, seeming out cold, with blood spurting from his broken nose.  Thinking that Dimiter is out cold, Kevin goes to the pay phone in the back of the store to call the police.

As Kevin is calling the police, Dimiter comes to, and bolts for the door.  Kevin starts pursuit after Dimiter.  Dimiter makes it to his car, starts it and starts to back out in an attempt to flee.  Kevin gets to the car as Dimiter throws the car in forward.  Kevin dives inside the driver’s window and tries to turn the ignition off.  Dimiter holds Kevin off, while starting out of the parking lot, dragging Kevin with him.  Kevin finally decides to let go before he gets seriously injured.

Unfortunately Dimiter got away, but not without a broken noise and an outstanding warrant for his arrest!

What goes around, comes around!  Little did I know that passing around his photo a year prior, and another laundromat owner that decided to say NO, would produce such incredible results.  This was the greatest 40th birthday present I could have ever of asked for! 

If you see someone using your change machine with a broken noise, take a second look, it might be Dimiter.

UPDATE: April 10, 1997

I received a rather strange phone call at work in April 1997.  It was a private investigator from Chicago trying to locate Dimiter.  Since I didn’t know this person, at first I was highly reluctant to reveal any information.  The private investigator was just as reluctant to give out unnecessary information.

He had obtained my name and phone number (I’m unlisted at home) from the Orange County Small Claims department when I has sued Dimiter for the $300.

After about 15 minutes of testing each other, we both opened up and fully discussed what each party knew about Dimiter.

Evidently Dimiter had an uncle die in Chicago.  The uncle had left some money to Dimiter.  The private investigator was trying to find Dimiter since he hadn’t showed up to his uncles funeral, no one knew his whereabouts, and wondered why he hadn’t come around to collect his inheritance.

I asked the private investigator how much was in the inheritance.  While he wouldn’t tell me the total amount, he did say it would cover my outstanding judgment against Dimiter (the court awarded me punitive damages over $4000 since there was a crime involved).  I started working on how to subpoena across state lines, if it was even possible at all.

The private investigator called the a few weeks later.  He found Dimiter.  He found him in an Orange County cemetery.  He died of a heart attack earlier in the year.  The private investigator had received a copy of the coroner’s report verifying his death.

I asked the private investigator if coroner’s report showed that his nose was broken!